Deals online, lasting all season take some of the stress out of holiday shopping

When it comes to holiday shopping, we can actually thank COVID for making it less stressful.

The sport of hunting for the best deal is gone this year, and pretty much all of the offers are on a platter for us, right now.

"The deals are great, you can’t beat it," said Ken Fugleberg.

He’s normally down to the wire with his shopping, but with all of the sales, he says, "I will be done by the end of the month, I hope."

So which deals are better at this point, in store or online?

We asked Consumer Reports’ deal guru, Samantha Gordon.

"Generally, they tend to be the same deals available," said Gordon. "All of those doorbuster deals are going to be available online and, in most cases, they’re going to be available online before they’re available in stores."

This year, it’s more of a Black Friday month.

While supply is always an issue with must-have items, COVID is also impacting supplies of many products.

"If you see that on sale and it’s a price that you think is an acceptable price to pay, pick it up now so you don’t have to worry about whether or not it will go out of stock later," advised Gordon.

Also check price match policies.

For example, Target expanded its two-week policy to include the entire holiday season.

So if you buy something now and see it for less next month, they’ll refund the difference.

"People are still going to be holiday shopping. I don’t think that’s going to change," said Gordon. "There’s a need for normalcy, especially around the holidays."

"I’m finding deals already, which is nice," said Marla Raska.

"I’m taking advantage of it," added Brenda Dalton.

A point worth reiterating: Shop early to make sure shipping delays don’t doom your plans.

Some are calling it shippageddon because of all the online shopping, so don’t wait.

If you’re thinking ‘Oh, I’m a Prime member, I’ll get it tomorrow,’ remember that everything is slow this year! Wait too long, and you might end up with some sad faces for the holidays.